The Afro-American Cultural Association and Alberto
Jones' Caribbean American Children's Foundation (CACF) led an Afro-American
tour of Cuba in April which received great reviews. They
are putting on a second tour this October.

Stealing my identity on AfroCubaWeb: the ultra right
in blackface, 10/1/00

As an infrequent visitor to the AfroCubaWeb Discussion
Group and an even rarer participant in the forum, I was surprised by the
amount of false postings under my name, a recurring identity theft.

We all thought that with the end of the Elian Gonzalez saga, in which
the world had its first full size picture of what the Ultra Right Wing
Cuban Americans stands for, they would refrain from these dirty tricks.
These are no different from what they did before in Cuba, what they do
today in Overtown, Little Haiti, or with their newest prey, emigrants
from Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras,

These people are now desperate, surrounded by the rotting odor of
everything they stand for. We are presented with the spectacle of their
public admission of how they are now engaged in a major face lift by
removing a large group of fossilized, pre-historic pseudo leaders who
for the past 40 years have preached hate, revenge, and retaliation. They
are now unceremoniously being replaced by a new horde of good looking,
soft spoken, smiling, young breed of neo-enforcers.

Vociferously accusing the media of siding with the enemy for airing
their disgraceful behavior in front of the home where 6 year old Elian
Gonzalez was held against the wishes of the world, they burned numerous
American flags and cursed and threatened every public official of this
nation who opposed their despicable action. No offense or insinuation
was too outrageous to be expressed over their south Florida Cuban Radio
Stations and newspapers.

And this is the same media in which they constantly complain how Cuba
have "Darkened" and how they will have to "Bleach"
the country as soon as it is "Free".

One of their most prominent spokesperson, Agustin Tamargo, has said
that until Blacks do not start throwing stones, Castro will remain in
power, clearly inferring that no political changes have taken place in
that country because of the support provided by the Black community.
Maybe that's why he further requested "Three Days of License"
to dole out retribution to those he assumes have kept him out of his
homeland.

But all of this would be less tragic, if they were not forced to
resort to Blacks and Black related issues. In 1960 after beaches, social
clubs and others were desegregated in Cuba, they labeled those places
"SOLOVANNICHE", meaning "Where Only Niggers Go."
Today, here they are visiting AFRO CUBA WEB, using this media as a way
to introduce their diversionism, confusionism, distorsions, half truths,
lies, and everything goes in order to instill a puff of oxygen in their
terminally ill philosophy.

Forty years have been sufficient for them to feel comfortable in our
company. Forty years have been sufficient for them to attempt to present
themselves as Born Again Lovers Of Black People, shedding their
"Crocodile Tears" over the plight of Blacks in Cuba, while
ignoring and decimating thousands of Blacks a few miles down the road
from their gated community.

How much lower can they stoop? How much more can they disgrace
themselves, by writing their "Dirty Little Articles" and using
some one else's name?

What else must they do or what must happen to them for most of us to
translate these abhorent behavior into symptoms of death?

These fellows are really pitiful! Having to present themselves as
what they hate most in life, being Black, is symptomatic of what lies
ahead of this group hypocrites.

A few years ago in Cuba, we were not good enough to share the same
classroom with them, and today, they are reduced to imitating a Black
man's writing.

It is by no means an accident, that in order to prolong that last
breath of this moribund group, whose actions have caused so much pain
and suffering to women, children and the elderly in Cuba, they have had
to hire Mr. Dennys Hays, searching for a miracle.

This choice could not be more fitting. Mr. Hays, with his extensive
work history of inflicting pain on the weak and defenseless, will
certainly excel in his new function.

At times like this, I can only think of the thousands of faithful
employees of the United States Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
-mostly Blacks- who for 20, 30, 40 or more years, faithfully
constructed, maintained, operated or took care of military families
assigned to that installation. They were summarily fired in 1964, and
now most of them are old, hungry, sick or have died, without ever
receiving a penny from their pensions in the past 35 years.

Is this the person that is supposed to solve the problem of the Cuban
people, to whose attention I brought this embarrassing situation twice,
while he was head of the Cuban Desk at the State Department?

Can any Cuban who has a minimum understanding of our painful history,
especially after defeating in 1898 the Spanish occupying forces, place
once again our future in the hands of Mr Hays or those who hired him?

If there has ever been a message that clearly depicts the Cuba that
Mr. Balart, Mrs Lethinen et al. have in store for our country, here is a
preview.

Cuba, the country with the longest and most beautiful history in this
hemisphere in its 500 hundred years of struggle for independence,
deserves more than this trash that is been offered to us. Since Hatuey,
the Native who first fought for our nationhood, through Marti, Maceo,
Quintin, Guiteras, Mariana, Jose Antionio, Chibas, Jesus Menendez and
that endless pleiades of patriots who laid the ground rules of what it
means to be Cuban, we will never surrender out our flag, our shield or
hymn, no matter the price.

These individuals have constantly resorted to name calling in order
to intimidate or silence any one who opposes their servile mentality. By
labeling anyone who refuses to gloss over our history, you may be
described as a "Castroite" or worse. So what?

Unfortunately for these people, threats do not work anymore. People
who have a sense of righteousness, who refuse to go in bed with our
murderers, are acutely aware of the price that we may have to pay. Tens
of amputees, fire bombed homes, orphans and head stones across this
country are silent witness to their vicious deeds.

But what they will never be able to do, is "neutralize"
every decent researcher who calls it as it is. They will never be able
to destroy every history book or burn down every library. Just as their
last array of leaders, General Pinochet, the Shah, Gary, Batista,
Somoza, Duvalier or Trujillo, they too, will be remembered as the worst
of society.

Christ was crucified because he said he was the son of God. Many are
crucified today for denouncing these pharisaical crooks.

No matter what, the human race will survive and future generations
will live in a better world.

As it was in the 30's when white actors painted their faces black in
order to portray Blacks in degrading attitudes, these people today from
"Free Cuba," such as this imposter from the Goebellian school
, are writing nonsense and even stealing my name in order to scare
readers away, to portray me as an enemy of this country, a radical! As
it was with their mentor, they too, will end up with Goebels in
history's garbage dump.

For those not familiar with the Cuban American National Foundation
platform, the recent hiring of Mr. Dennis Hays as executive Vice President was a shocking
experience that reinforced the perception of nonexistent educated/visionary
Cuban-Americans in its ranks, capable of preventing another Elian's fiasco.

Instead, the presence of Mr. Hays at the helm of the CANF, signals the "coming
out" of the long-standing, shameful, unabashed annexationist principle that have
guided the core thinking of this group since its inception.

The choice of Mr. Hays could not be better. This rabid anti-Cuba has openly expressed his
goal of chasing Afro-American activist Joanne Chesimard out of Cuba, convicted in the
death of an NJ State trooper, but did nothing about the thousands of Afro-Cubans/Jamaicans
that loyally worked for 20, 30 or 40 years at the United States Naval Base in Guantanamo,
and who were given a choice of abandoning their families and exile on the Naval Base or
stay with their families in Cuba "On Their Own" .

And, on their own they have been for the past 35 years, because Mr. Hays, Nuccio and
others in the Treasury Department have made the determination to withhold these workers
pension, subject them to hunger, illnesses, bitterness and death. Many of those who heeded
the advise and stayed on the Naval Base, have not seen their families since!

This is why some understands the full meaning of the "Human Right Declaration"
while others can recite it, while turning its content into wet paper.

The insatiable hatred that Myrian Marquez and hundreds of other
ultra-right-wing Cubans profess for their country of birth is expressed through their
daily bilious exudate geared to demonize, denigrate, and disparage every thing originating
in Cuba. Her recent article (1) , "Why don't African Americans speak out against
Castro's abuses" typifies her impotence towards people of African descent.

Having
failed in their 40 year old attempt to overthrow the Cuban Government through assasination
attempts, conspiracies, invasions, economical and bacteriological warfare, bombings,
sabotage, and the longest and most virulent embargo in human history, they are now
resorting to their last hope, a carefully structured and well financed campaign, designed
to promote and stir up racial hatred in Cuba, hoping to re-enact the Kosovo or West Bank
experience.

Her patronizing personality associated with her Upper Class Cuban mentality leads her
to offer unsolicited advice about what she perceives as the uninformed, uneducated Afro
American community and the Congressional Black Caucus. How daring!

It is not surprising, since while she and her cohorts controlled the lives and
properties of every Cuban, Blacks were confined to live in huts without running water,
electricity, healthcare, jobs or schools, and forced to use separate aisles in public
parks. They even created a separate religious order and dress code for Black women.
Walking in her family neighborhood in Havana after dark was a crime!

But worst of all is that she assumes Blacks can be duped or have no memory.

We remember how every Black leader in the world has been systematically despised by
them!

We remember how during the South African struggle against Apartheid, they sided with
Botha against Nelson Mandela!

We remember that when Blacks were struggling for dignity and equality during the Civil
Rights Movement in the US, they sided with every segregationist in town!

We remember how Myrian Marquez and her likes seldom write about the murder of Diallo in
New York, the New York police sodomizing Louima, the dragging death of King in Texas, the
four little girls blown to bits in a church in Alabama, the thousands of Blacks massacred
in Cuba in 1912 or the township of Rosewood wiped off the map in Florida. When they do,
they try to explain it away.

But for those not old enough to attest to their despicable pasts actions, suffice to
see how the Cuban American National Foundation and all of the Cuban controlled Radio
Stations Talk Shows and Newspapers of south Florida give unconditional and overwhelming
support to Governor Bushs "One Florida"
scheme, which is intended to return minorities to where they assume we belong.

Unfortunately, Myrian Marquez will have to live with the pain of having to accept -
albeit in secrecy - that Afro Cubans constitute today the largest or second largest pool
of people of African ancestry with higher education in the world!

For many years, there has been a tendency to
evaluate governments activities in 100 days periods, from which trends tend to be
inferred. It is now 100 days since 6 year old Elian Gonzalez was rescued off the shores of
south Florida and given temporary custody to his grand uncle Lazaro Gonzalez, who has
forcefully witheld this child against the will of his father, four grandparents, and world
opinion.

The ultra-right-wing Cuban American National Foundation in Miami has spent
millions of Dollars and built a sophisticated maze of legal entanglements, supported by a
network of venal public officials, which makes it nearly impossible to find a qualified
-non tainted- judge to look into this illegal trial. Some have already recused themselves
and much more will in the future. Spineless officials at higher level of government, have
proven incapable of carrying out their sworn duties and become unwittingly, accomplices in
this heinous crime.

These factors have so far successfully kept this innocent child in the worst
environment possible. The constant imprinting in his young mind of an unreal, non-existing
world, will make his future adjustment in life, difficult if not impossible.

In order to clearly establish intent, earlier this week, 10 year old Jessica Rodriguez
was abducted from her driveway shortly after getting off her school bus in north west
Florida. An intense search by nearly 100 police investigators and the entire community,
led to her prompt and safe release three days after. The manhunt continues.

But Elian's case has become a hostage of the 40 year old anti-Cuba rhetoric, driven by
a large group of white, reactionary Cuban Dinosaurs who have remained petrified in time in
Miami, New Jersey and elsewhere, and who by the way have never needed a Social Security
Card, which is not required in a huge Hate Industry which have made many of them very
wealthy.

Political considerations during a Presidential election and the careful tabulation of
electoral votes in Florida have played a separate role in the position assumed by
candidates, who, ignoring their moral obligations, are pandering to the intellectuals
authors of this brutal kidnapping, in search of their nomination/election.

By putting their personal interest above the nation's best interest, these candidates
are willfully and irreversibly smearing the history of their country. A case in point.
During the mid fifties, 5 or 6 drunken US sailors on shore leave in Havana, climbed a
30-40 feet high Jose Marti bust in Havana Central park and took a PISS, which was caught
on film by a passing photographer.

Non Cubans can never understand how deeply respected and revered is this man, the
nation top hero. Bust or pictures of Jose Marti are in every school and public buildings.
There is no town or city in the country in which there isn't a Jose Marti street. In
summary, the biggest and most important institution in the country, will always be named
Jose Marti! This horrible desecration of Cuba's most revered, beloved and respected hero,
unleashed a severe national unrest with rioting and a vociferous demand to bring the
culprit to justice. The corrupt and lackey Cuban Government under pressure from the State
Department, allowed the sailors to be brought to "Justice" in the US. No Cuban
witness were invited to the trial if there was ever one, nor the outcome was ever made
public.

Years after, this despicable action found its way into history books in Cuba, and some
wise men in the US, rather than acknowledge and apologize, chose to labell it as
"Communist Propaganda".

These simplistic answers, wrapped in veiled threats, did accomplish their main
objective of silencing the masses by instilling fear in them. Ironically, by the same
token, it reinforced the views and behavior of the perpetrators, enabling them to commit
more frequent and gross mistakes.

The bizarre development surrounding Elian Gonzalez case, in which everyone knows where
the kidnappers live, sleep and dine, as they have suddenly acquired celebrity status with
frequent TV shows appearances, for whom radio marathons are organized to finance their
Legal Defense Fund and who are not sought by any police department, fits perfectly within
the arrogance derived from an absolute disregard of human dignity.

I can only wonder what Charles Lindberg, Juan Gonzalez or future generations may think
about us if this grossly mishandled tragedy ever hits the history books!

During the summer of 1966, as a student in Germany, I went through my
life most revolting experience, when I visited Buchenwald, one of Nazi Germany best known
concentration camp. Without ever being there, seeing the ovens, the human skin lamp
shades, the films, it would not be possible to fully capture the bestiality in many of us.

But
most difficult to understand was that this extermination complex was located a few miles
from Weimer, the highly educated, cultural center of Germany, where the cream of that
society, took part regularly in music or arts festivals, pretending nothing was wrong or
intentionally remaining silent, sanctifying such heinous deed.

Millions of people paid the ultimate price, because of our complacency, lack of courage
or complicity. Sixty years after, it appears we have learned very little from this tragedy
or as it was then, we are too busy, too selfish to care about the suffering of others.

The tragic events surrounding 6 year old Elian Gonzalez, who was found Thanksgiving day
clinging to an inner tube off the shores of south Florida after the drowning death of his
mother and 9 others involved in an ill fated, alien smuggling attempt, have shocked the
conscience of millions of people around the world.

This child, who may have suffered permanent psychological trauma and more physical pain
than most of us in our lifetime, continue to be forcibly retained in a foreign
environment, surrounded by people he has never seen before, turned into a celebrity and
plunged into a media frenzy by the heartless, vengeful, ultra-right-wing Cuban American
pseudo-politicians in Miami and New Jersey.

In order to explain their absurd position, they are presenting the most bizarre,
baseless arguments; as they perceive the well being of the child in direct relation with
the availability of Nintendo, Tommy's or McDonalds, creating an artificial "Dream
World" around him, which incidentally, does not apply to hundreds of other Cubans,
Haitians, Afro Americans or poor Anglo children in Miami and every other city in this
country.

But what makes this action more despicable, is that they are knowingly, systematically
applying against this innocent child, well established and universally accepted theories
of "Conditioned Reflexes", which was demonstrated many years ago by Pavlov and
others.

By showering this child with an ample variety of foods, garments, toys, Disney World
etc., they are imprinting in his young brain a world he will no longer have, as soon as he
is returned to his father, creating a vacuum that will be replaced by withdrawal, anxiety,
depression, or a socially unfit time bomb, capable of going off any time.

Having been in this world for much longer than I would like to accept, I have
experienced first hand, the brutality, cruelty, visciousness that humans are capable of
exhibiting. But for the most time, we expect to see these subhuman behavior associated
with civil unrest or other types of deranged environment, that may explain in part, such
actions.

But to do that in cold blood to a fragile, timid, scarred child, is beyond all humanoid
classification of these barbarian disguised as teachers, mothers, politicians,
pediatricians, psychologists, sociologists and even clergy!

As an Afro Cuban, I am deeply troubled by the casual reporting or limited coverage of
this horrendous human experience in the Black media. With few exceptions, prominent
leaders with the moral standing capable of expressing their disgust, have been
conspicuously silent.

But above and beyond the morality of this issue, no other racial/ethnic group in the
world, should be more sensitive to any perception of forcefully restraining and separating
family members, base upon our own tragic experience, in which, family members were
separated and dispersed throughout this hemisphere.

It must be emphasized also, that what is being done to this defenseless child by the
Cuban American community in Miami, is nothing more than a rehash of what they did to the
native community in Latin America as of 1492, to the African slaves as of 1512, to the
Afro Cuban community until 1959 in Cuba and to the Afro American community in South
Florida since 1960, which they have subjugated and made hopelessly dependent, inflicting a massive influx of drugs and other social ills.

But if all of the above is nauseating and repugnant, even more so was the spectacle of
watching the Three Kings Parade in Miami, in which New York Yankee Afro Cuban Pitcher
"El Duke" Hernandez was the Grand Marshall of this event, thereby sanctioning
and giving approval to the past behavior of this group of right wing Cuban Americans.

This individual, through his irresponsible action, has tried to obscure or ignore the
horrendous racism, ignorance, poverty, hunger and the deaths of thousands of children
through preventible causes inflicted on our people by these criminals when they owned the
lives and property in Cuba.

This traitor cannot deny that if he did not feel it himself, he never heard from his
parents, neighbors, how it was and what these people did to us.

These Miami, Cuban-Americans, rightfully driven out of Cuba FOREVER, were the enforcers
and perpetrators of our 29% illiteracy rate, 24% infant mortality, segregated
neighborhoods, beaches, clubs. Forced us to live in huts without electricity, running
water, sewer, no jobs, and openly prohibited us to work in department stores, banks,
office settings or even drive a provincial bus.

These are the same individuals that forced Nat King Cole, Josephine Baker and other
luminaries, to use the kitchen door in order to enter the night club where they were to
perform. These are the same individuals that bragged that their puppet President Batista,
was denied entry in the Havana Yatch Club.

These are the same individuals, that when beaches and clubs were integrated in Cuba in
1960, they UNANIMOUSLY refused to enter to these places and renamed them SOLOVANNICHE.
Later, we were able to unscramble this as SOLO VAN NICHE or ONLY WHERE NIGGERS GO!

But what makes more blatant, offensive and painful the irresponsible behavior of
"El Duque" is the extensive and proud history of Black Cubans, who since the
Ladder Conspiracy against slavery have crafted one of the most dignified, honorable and
heroic history in this hemisphere.

No Afro Cuban can ever forgive the affront to the memory of Antonio Maceo, Guillermon
Moncada or Quintin Banderas. Mariana Grajales, the Black mother of the Cuban Nation, who
gave the lives of 9 members of her family in the war of independence, may have cried for
the first time in her life, to know, that such a THING, could be one of us!

But his indignity has no parallel. Made drunk by the few millions paid to him by his
team owners, he feels compelled to be on his knees, to accept his self inflicted
inferiority, to forgive and forget our history.

Jesus Menendez, the sugar industry union leader, with approximately the same or less
level of education than this other Personality, but with an absolute sense of dignity,
self respect and love for his nation, was called to the White House, -not for the 6
million that is paid to "El Duque"- he was handed a blank, signed, Federal Check
for him to fill out and stop the strike in Cuba. He refused the check, returned to Cuba
and under orders "from above" was shot as he detrained in the station in
Mazanillo.

Jesus Menendez is another of the endless list of Afro Cubans heros who Cubans respect,
admire and imitates on a daily basis. "El Duque" will be remembered by the
Cubans for opposite reasons!

I an forced to admit, that the actions of "El Duque" Hernandez, have created
in me the same revolting experience as the one I experienced in Buchenwald 35 years ago
and never thought I would ever have to relive!